Citation

Han MA. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017; 14(9): e14090999.

Affiliation

Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Chosun University, Gwangju 61452, Korea. mahan@chosun.ac.kr.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph14090999

PMID

28862672

PMCID

PMC5615536

Abstract

This study examined the prevalence of perceived stress and depressive symptoms in cancer survivors and their family members compared with subjects without cancer and without family members with cancer. The subjects of this cross-sectional study were adults ≥19 years old who participated in the 2012 Korea Community Health Survey. Stress and depressive symptoms in cancer survivors and their family members were assessed and compared to symptoms in control groups by chi-square tests and multiple logistic regression analyses. Of the 6783 cancer survivors, 26.9% and 8.7% reported having stress and depressive symptoms, respectively, and 27.7% and 5.9% of family members of cancer survivors reported having stress and depressive symptoms, respectively. Cancer survivors showed higher adjusted odds ratio (aOR) for stress (aOR = 1.26, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.16-1.37) and depressive symptoms (aOR = 1.82, 95% CI = 1.57-2.11) than subjects without cancer history. Family members of cancer survivors showed a higher OR for stress and depressive symptoms than subjects without a family member who survived cancer. Cancer survivors and family members of cancer survivors had more stress and depressive symptoms than controls. Careful management for cancer patients and their family members should include screening for stress and depression to improve mental health associated with cancer survivorship.

Language: en

Keywords

chronic disease; depression; family; neoplasms; stress; survivors